Beautifully shared memories

This is a post from my sister, Heather. Her blog is private, but I love this post that she did and love the pictures and thought you might too. And since this is my journal/scrapbook, I wanted it to be a part of my blog as well. This was only 8 days before my Mom died. January has been hard for all of us. We miss her so much. I hope you don't mind me sharing this, Heather. My Last Memory

This has been a really hard week for me. On Monday I was looking through some pictures on the computer and came across these pictures of me and my Mom. This was the last time I saw my Mom. I had forgotten that I even took the pictures. On our last day together my Mom and I played rumikub, our favorite game. We took a nap together and I played with her hair. She loved it when I would play with her hair and I was always happy to do it. We really just hung out. I remember that night when I said goodbye to her I told her that I was sorry I had to leave her. Her response was this,"Oh honey, I'm the one leaving you." I didn't realize how very soon that would come. Those words are ingrained in memory. I keep hearing her say them. This was our last conversation where she made any sense at all and the last time I saw her. I'm glad that I thought to take these pictures, but still they are hard to look at. I miss her so much. I really hate that she is gone.
I was talking to my sister Jenny and we were remembering three years ago when my Mom told us she was dying. She told Jenny and I that we needed to take care of my Dad. Lucky for us we have the most amazing Dad on the planet. He is holding all of us together and is being so strong. He is so full of faith and understands the plan of salvation so beautifully. I am so glad to have him as my Dad.
I wish that I would have been able to see her one more time before she died but my siblings and my Dad keep telling me that I should be grateful that these are my last memories of her. When she still could laugh and play with me. So for that I am grateful.
Here are the pictures of our last time together. Something that I will cherish forever!!!



Rumikub time! Our favorite!

Her new wheelchair. She was so cute in it.

Snow day

Snow days are always fun days, even if it is a lot of work! Actually, our older three do fantastic and can get all their gear together and have an absolute blast! But snow and babies are sometimes not the best combination. That being said, Kate still did quite well. We just love to sled at the cabin. Most of my pictures are of Kate because Richard and the other kids were mostly off with cousins having a great time! Kate and I went down together a few runs and she loved it and kept making the sign for "more". Daniel is my favorite in the snow because he loves to snowboard and he does so well at it! I didn't get any pictures of him though. We definately had a fun day!

Dad and Kate

Little snow bunny

Chillin' at the cabin

So cute!

All bundled up!

Completely tuckered out- the only nap of the day- a whopping 15 minutes!

Our awesome, adorable kids

My compliments to the chef

Last night was Daniels first basketball game and Richard was at Young Mens, so I took Daniel, Emma and Kate with me. Landon opted to stay home and called me about 15 minutes later to say he was bored and wondered if I had ingredients to make a smoothie. Well, I didn't, and he asked what he could do, so I told him to make brownies! When we came home an hour later, the house smelled divine (that's a Judy word) and there was a beautiful pan of brownies fresh out of the oven! I was so impressed...they were perfect! I love it when kids can do things on their own, and do them well. Daniel can also make a ham and cheese omelet from start to finish without help! Now if I could just get them to do their laundry! Oh, and Kate loved the basketball game. I spent the entire time chasing her and yanking her off the court. She knew it was naughty and she thought it was the funniest thing ever! Stinker!

And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again...

Happy 2010! There was much to learn and grow from in 2009, but we are looking forward to a wonderful 2010! We rang in the New Year with all the kids in bed and were promptly asleep by 12:05. We had dinner at Richards friend Brent's house but excused ourselves early because there was no way Kate would make it and because we are party poopers, I guess. On New Years Day we went to the cabin for a snow day and I forgot my camera :(. Everyone had fun, but I left early with Emma, Kate and Kjerstin to go back to Lori's. Emma and Kjerstin played Littlest Pet Shop for hours and hours, I drove to Ephraim just to get Kate a nap in the car, and then we ate and ate way to much food! Here are some pictures of our fabulous time at the OG (Olive Garden) with my family. My brother Jon is a waiter there and when my Mom died, the owner sent over loads of food for all of us, which was soooo nice. But then he invited us all to the OG for a night on the house! Boy, did we pig out! The waiter said the sky was the limit and it was sooooo much fun! Unlimited everything! I've had a lot of fun eating over the past two weeks, but its time to say good bye to all those indulgences. Time to get my butt back in gear. Good bye sweet rolls, good bye chocolate macadamia clusters, good bye Starbucks steamers, good bye rice krispy treats, good bye brownies, good bye Coke.....J/K.....I promise I won't let you go. I will

miss you all.

Our special table

Richard and Jenny

Jon and Dad

Traci and Jake

Dave and Michelle

Heather and Brent

Dad and his chocolate amore- we went through a lot of these babies.